The Ogun State government has taken delivery of an initial set of 50,000 doses of the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Governor Dapo Abiodun received the vaccines on Monday at the Government House in the Okemosan area of Abeokuta, the state capital.
He gave an assurance that the vaccines would be deployed immediately across the 236 wards of the 20 local governments of the state.
The governor was delighted that Ogun was the first to receive the first batch of the vaccines among the comity of states in the country.
According to him, the vaccines will be promptly distributed to ensure seamless vaccination exercise as the state awaits another set of 50,000 doses.
Governor Abiodun commended President Muhammadu Buhari for what he described as his purposeful leadership in the fight against the pandemic.
While he also appreciated the efforts of development partners and critical stakeholders, the governor asked residents of the state to continue to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 safety protocols.
Amid the rising figure of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fight against the outbreak received a major boost on Tuesday last week as Nigeria took delivery of its first batch of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX, a World Health Organisation (WHO)-backed initiative set up to procure and ensure equitable distribution of vaccines for free among countries across the world.
The first shipment of 3,924,000 doses of the vaccines arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja via an Emirates airplane from India.
In preparation for the distribution, the Federal Government had said the vaccines would be administered in the order of priority, with the frontline health workers on the top of the list.
It noted that it would also consider the elderly and the strategic leaders in the country – such as the President and other key public office holders in the country.
